What's Next On The Knicks Offseason To-Do List? | NY Got Game

Welcome back to another edition of New York Got Game. It's your boy Jaxon Henry alongside my guy Brian Fonseca. Sir, we are here. The offseason continues to roll along. Summer League underway. For some of y'all out there, some of your favorite time where you get to evaluate prospects. But we're not here to talk about Summer League. We did that on the last episode where we previewed Summer League. Thank you to everybody for watching, commenting, a lot of interaction from you guys on that. We are here to try to answer a simple question. What else do the Knicks need to do this offseason? No, the Knicks are not done, Brian. They are not done. They still have more work to do this offseason. There's still a couple of roster spots they could fill, which is interesting. We're getting very deep into the roster construction. They've done most of their business and we're going to kind of start there because you and I, we've been talking about the business the Knicks did and so much of the attention has gone, well before free agency started, so much of the attention was, all right, can they bring everybody back? So, let's just get this out of the way. The Knicks have brought most of the team back. 95% of the team is back. Yeah. Pretty much. Haporti's gone. Haporti's gone. Mitchell Robinson's gone. Are you saying whatever? I mean, no, I'm saying that's kind of it. Yeah. Jordan Clarkson still could come back. We'll see about Jordan Clarkson. We'll get to that a little later. We'll see about some of the other ancillary parts, if you will. No disrespect. But what I wanted to start is that they brought back the core, the core of the bench, except for Mitchell Robinson, on really team-friendly deals. In fact, deals that are so friendly, Brian and I were and now that the terms and everything are out. It's damn near suspiciously. Why has it got to be suspicious? Why has it got to be suspicious though? Look, man, Pablo Torre. Pablo Torre's going to be sniffing around. See, you can't be giving nobody any ideas, man. You can't be doing that. But the deals are great deals. Clearly, they love it here. Let's get into it. I mean, four for 24. What's the information on the guarantees? So four for 24, first year's guarantee at 5.5 million. Which is biannual exception. So basically, you got the biannual exception. Here's the thing, and this is what we're going to get into and talk about all this, guys. Years three and four are partial guarantees for Landry Shammott, okay? Hold that. Hold that, okay? Let's talk about Mohamed Diawara, who I said had to be a priority for the Knicks in bringing back. And the Knicks bringing back now the terms are out. Who I said might be your six man at points this year. Could be. Could be. Yeah. All right. I don't know from a minute standpoint, but from a production standpoint, I could see him coming off the bench giving you 10, 12 or so regularly if things play out well. So they gave him four for $11.3 million, right? Now, the shock, here's the thing. First year of the deal, so people know $2.6 million. The shocking thing for me was only the first two years are guaranteed. Now, I'm actually going to hold that for a second. Hold that for a second. Let's then get to your countryman, Jose Alvarado, okay? Who I wanted to play in Morocco qualifiers, but only you. Three. Not only me, trust me. Three for $14.4 million, right? First two years are guaranteed. He'll be making $4.4 million in year one. The third year is a partial guarantee. I'm glad we went through all that. So none of these are player options, to be clear. Right. The Knicks have team control. They have partial guarantees. I'm not almost. I'm looking at the players and the agents. I get it that you love it here, but also why would you agree to this? Because you love it here. I feel like they could have done better. All these agents. But here's the thing. I know Knicks fans are going to be like, yeah, but they got great. It's New York and they won a title and all these different things. I'm just saying all of these guys got beneath what they're worth. So now I'm looking at their agents, like what happened? Yeah. But let me say this. I think Knicks fans were waiting a long time for this to be said about their team. For once people were willing to take less to stay here. That means we use this word all the time. Probably too much. Sometimes the culture is actually good. And it's surprising because it's it's it's not like so when Jalen Brunson does it, Jalen Brunson is making a ton of money anyway. I don't know if I don't know if he's going to take the I don't know if he's going to do this again. But that's what I'm saying. You're right about what you're saying. But when the role players do it, what does that tell you? The role players are stupid. I always go to this. It's like any other job. People will leave jobs because of poor management and poor culture. I've seen it. People have seen it. People will stay and sometimes work for a little bit less. They're happier if they're empowered, if they like the system in which they work. And to be clear, neither Dex or I are advocating for people to take less money. But also we're also not people who are like, yeah, just take the highest, like go to the highest bidder. That doesn't mean the situation might even in our careers. We we have not always done. Now, there's there's respect in getting paid a certain amount and what comes with that. But it's not like you're going to take the highest bidder no matter what. Like, I'm sure. Like, for example, if Jose Alvarado's best offer, let's just say his best offer, like if he was getting four more four more million dollars a year, but it was in like Washington or something like that, then then, OK, I understand. But I do think in an open market. Like, I'm fascinated as to the like, not even just the deals themselves, but also what you're laying out in terms of non-guarantees and at the back end of the contract. Right. But the O'Hara essentially got paid like a late first round pick. Right. But that stuff matters because of, I think, how they've taken care of other guys. Landry Schama through shoulder injuries, not having guaranteed deals. And they took care of him. I think that partial guarantee. Yeah. But here's the thing. If you want to stay in a situation with a team that stood by you and let you rehab through stuff, them giving you more money, it's like you're like, well, maybe it comes to another situation. I'll trust him again. I'm not saying you should always trust me. But I'm just I'm saying it shows you how good the culture is and the situations are very specific. Now, why does all this matter? All this matters in terms of what the Knicks are doing, because they are continuing to allow themselves to have flexibility. Right. You're almost fully running back a championship team. Yes. Because of guys willing to have, well, two years from Mohamed Diawara, which that's the one for me that was a little bit more shocking. Yeah. The fact that he has two non-guaranteed years at the end of his deal. The partial guarantees for Schama and Alvarado. I'm more surprised by that. You're more surprised by that? Yes. Because Mo Diawara got paid like a late first round pick. So comparatively, let's look at the 2025 graph. Hugo Gonzalez, we've been talking about a lot this summer. He got in his rookie year just south of 2.8 million dollars. Then after that, this coming season, he'll get 2.9. And then the two team options, they're going to accept both of those for three and then for north of five and a half million dollars. So Mo Diawara, I don't think the increase in that fourth year is going to be that steep. No, it doesn't seem but he's basically like a late second or late first, early second round pick contractually. To me, it's like, okay, that kind of makes sense. I would have wanted more. I remember an instance years ago where Daniel House was being offered, when he was a productive player, was being offered like a three-year deal and he took a one-year deal instead, like a proven deal and then got a bigger deal after that. I remember that. This was with the Houston Rockets when he was in like the late 2010s, like 2019 or so. I thought that he would play it that way because he got the one year, but he took the rookie scale contract, if you want to use that phrasing anyway. I'm more surprised at the veterans because while they value fit, clearly, because Jose is home, Landry Schammett's home. He could have been cut away. I won't reveal where I saw Landry Schammett a week ago, but you know this, but on my way to lunch, meeting with somebody, I saw Landry Schammett just walking his dog. Before his deal came out. Yeah, before his deal was done. People went up to him like, hey, patting him on the shoulder and everything. Like, yeah, these dudes are home. You know what I'm saying? I think, but that stuff matters though. I personally, if I were them, I would have wanted more guaranteed money. That's it. Especially considering like the years and terms on his face. Like if you told me Landry Schammett, his four for 24 was fully guaranteed. I'd be like, okay, that makes sense. And we both know he could have gotten more annually from somebody else. He probably could have gotten three for 24, which would be $8 million annually. Except, except, except. But the fit wouldn't be there. Right. And he's like, y'all ain't the Knicks. And I know that's crazy for some people to hear right now, but that's where they are. And that's a good place to be that people want to be here. Even if they, even if it's slightly below their market value. Want to be there and also giving up, giving up not just money, but also to some extent, financial security. Because these partial guarantees, like you become a contract after basically that first year. Right. At that point, like Landry Schammett could easily be moved. But it gives the Knicks flexibility. Yeah, but that's the thing. It's like from a, from a player standpoint, like from a player standpoint, I'm looking at this from the player standpoint, then. Yeah. I don't love that. But if you now. From a Knicks standpoint. Look, if you're somebody. And a fan standpoint. If you're somebody who just, right. If you're just a fan, if you just root for the laundry and you don't really care what the players make, because they make more than, you know, you and us and what have you, then fine. But I'm just talking about. Players make more than you? Yes. I should ask you that question. Oh, please don't come to me on that. Don't come to me on that. Well, you know, I technically directed Nikolai's out here, out here kicking more than us. No, I hear your point. Yeah. The point. Like, I'm like, you're almost, you're making a point from the standpoint of like. I was looking from the team's fans. Right. And what this allows them to do going forward. From the team's, from the fan standpoint. And I'm almost looking at it from the lens of the players association. No, I get that. And the players association might have some, they might look at it and be like, yo, we don't like this, right? They would use stronger language than me to be clear. But if we just take this in terms of team building or what it allows the Knicks to do, not even down the road, not even down the road, we're going to get to down the road. We get to down the road when we get there, but just this off season. That's why I want to transition now. What can they do this off season? Because we started at the top of the question. The Knicks are not done with this off season. They still have some roster spots they can fill. Yeah. They can still add maybe another guard or a wing or likely a third center because, and we're going to start here with the guard, because some of the conversation is going to come about Jordan Clarkson. Will he be back now? I think Jordan Clarkson should be back. I think Jordan Clarkson should absolutely be commended. For I said it during the season for how he played when he was out the rotation, how he shifted his game. Jordan Clarkson wasn't even shooting threes anymore. He was getting offensive rebounds. He was playing better defense than I've probably ever seen in his career. He really was a strong leader for this team. Now, there's some other people out in this market that's going to be brought up for Knicks fans talking about Jordan Clarkson. Now, what can you do with Jordan Clarkson or whoever's you bring in? Whoever comes in, whether it's a third center, whether it's Jordan Clarkson, whether it's another guard or somebody, this is going to be on a veterans minimum. Okay. The Knicks, this is all about what they have to spend. There's no reason to spend all of that for a free agent right now. Not for the Knicks perspective anyway. It's going to be two guys on veteran minimums. Would Jordan Clarkson want to come back on a veteran minimum? It doesn't seem like there's been a robust market for Jordan Clarkson. I think he would value coming back for the Knicks. Our Stephan Bondy has talked about this. He says he knows there's a lot of interest between the Knicks and Jordan Clarkson. But another name has come out there because this person had a buyout with the Sacramento Kings. That is DeMar DeRozan. And I've seen a lot of chatter. People love Knicks fans on social. They love some names. Knicks should get DeMar DeRozan. I'm going to throw another name out here too. This I haven't seen has as much traction, but it's going to happen, especially if there's an open roster spot. This person also played for the Kings last year. And that is your boy, Russell Westbrook. Oh, I thought you were going to say Zach McKean. I was not going to go there. He picked up his option, predictably so. However, he could get bought out. He's still a buyout candidate. It's going to be an expensive buyout. Yeah, well. But let me ask you this. Should the Knicks bring back Jordan Clarkson? Or should they go get a DeMar DeRozan? Should they go get a Russell Westbrook up in here? Your face scrunched up worse. This team does not need a name. You're not chasing anything right now. You're trying to defend your title. But this team does not need a name. You and I will probably have similar views on this. So I'll just keep it brief. And just looking at the roster, like I don't see the need for a guard. I'm already not finding minutes for Tyler Kohler with this team that you're bringing back. I agree. I'm already not finding minutes for him, who had some moments last year. In fact, we just talked about Shamit. I assume he's going to play. But mind you, you already have to play Deuce, Shamit, and Alvarado. For sure. So. And I'm also going to add Diwara. And Diwara. Yeah. And whoever, like insert backup center here. It'll start off being Andre Drummond. We can talk about whether or not that's going to be the case in February and April and May and potentially June again. Right. But that's sort of what we're looking at. We don't know anything about Tyler Nichol. It doesn't seem like Jack Cahill is going to be a factor. And Pacom.ie dot dot dot question mark. We'll see what he does in summer, Lee. Right. And so in looking at the way the team is set up, I don't think you need a guard. So you don't want Jordan Clarkson back. But I was going to say, but Jordan Clarkson, if you're going to bring somebody in. Yeah. You might as well bring him back if he's open doing so. He just probably like if he wants consistent playing time, I don't know if it's going to be. That's the question. Here's what I'll say. If you because what you're talking about with what you just said, we're basically talking right now about who's going to be your 10th man. Well, 11, 11, excuse me, Terry, you just mentioned because we are assuming that you are going to get an uptick in playing time, which I think will happen. Yeah. So the 11th man, because to be clear, because you have on the bench, Deuce, if we go even in order of minutes, if we do like the two cases, Deuce Alvarado, Deuce Alvarado, Dior Shaman in some order and from and then from there, it's like you're who's the 11th guy? Like who, when, when one of the other guards is injured. But so the point I was going to make is to that point, as you laid that out, and you know, the starters of the starters, you need somebody who's already been comfortable in that role. Now, last year, Clarkson was essentially the 10th man in that role, sometimes the 11th man. And when he was out the rotation, right, especially when Shaman came back and was healthy. Clarkson's come. So if he's a guy that is comfortable with that and wants to run it back and knows, hey, you're not gonna play every night. But if a Deuce gets hurt, Alvarado gets hurt, you'll be in. I'm fine with that. If that's where he feels like he is in his career, then I think that's great. And I think it's good if you have somebody that comes in that understands and knows that role, right? I do think his voice matters as a veteran presence around the team. You heard some talk about when the Knicks were down 2-1 in the Atlanta series, that he was one of the voices in the locker room that spoke up. That stuff matters. I know people think sometimes it doesn't and you know, who can play? No, sometimes a guy who can come in and play and then lead by example. And the fact that he changed his game and was a voice. So that was not just leading by example. When he did get a spot to come back in the rotation, he showed like, I don't have to be the same Gordon Clarkson. I'm going to do what it takes to win. So in that regard, and because Jordan Clarkson, I still think can give you a bucket, can still give you valuable minutes. I do think it'll be good to bring him back as the 11th man. I know it's another guard. I know some people are going to say, what about Kolek? Just, you know, just maybe taking away time from Kolek. Maybe it is, but Kolek could compete for that 11th spot. If he wants to. Competition is good. It's okay to compete sometimes. Or you do something with great tip time. You could, which is still a possibility. And we'll get to that too. Look again, not presented as shade, but like the way your roster is, like, do you want to play Alvarado, Kolek, and Deuce at the same time? No, no. With Shamit? No, absolutely not. Shamit at the four? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. But here's the other point to what you're saying. And I know you don't have to get deep into this. The reason you, the stuff you just mentioned about even potentially thinking about bringing back Jordan Clarkson is why, do you think DeMar DeRozan, the mid-range assassin, the 35 is going to be, is going to want to play as an 11th man? No, I don't see it. See, this is why the DeRozan thing makes no sense to me. Not to mention playing style. I think, yeah, I agree. Not to mention playing style. He doesn't fit with the Knicks need. Right. And then I don't want to say it's a culture problem because DeMar DeRozan has a very good reputation in terms of amongst the players, in terms of what he's done. He's a fine player. In terms of what he's done, even for like mental health advocacy for athletes, for NBA players, like these are important things off the court. On the court though, it just kind of is what it is. He would make more sense in other areas. Not the Knicks, I don't think, especially for somebody who between 10 feet and deep mid-range jumpers, like 23, 22, 23 feet, almost 60% of his shots came from there last season. And that's generally like what it is with him. Like that's not a shot diet you want coming off the bench anyway. Frankly, like he would be taking whose minutes? Mo Diora's. So that doesn't make a lot of sense. Nope. You know? Or Shammock's. Like you have other guys that fit. Like DeMar DeRozan is going to be better off in some other team in the Eastern Conference perhaps, or even in the Western Conference. Maybe he comes off the bench and is a six man of the year contender somewhere. I don't know. But here in New York for the way this team is built and what they're looking for out of role players, I think you hit the nail on the head with the 11th guy has to basically be, I think, a veteran who's been around, who understands some days I'm going to play, some days I'm not. We expected Malcolm Brogdon to some extent be like that last year. So that's not going to be the case. If it's not Jordan Clarkson, I do think you have to look at some size because of the way the roster is constructed right now with already Deuce, Jose, and Landry Shammock being your one, two, three, not in that order necessarily coming off the bench. I agree. I agree 100%. And Russell Westbrook and I am in the fans of Russell Westbrook to his career because I've loved how he's actually played the game. No, no, no. I'm not going to get too deep on it. No, because I also think it's Russell Westbrook who, all accounts, people you talk to in Sacramento, guys love him. Another guy with a great reputation. Guys love him, love how he plays, how he competes. But I just don't think the Knicks need that in the locker room. Especially somebody, I think a great point you mentioned is taking away minutes from a Diawara. It doesn't matter. Russell Westbrook's shot diet, like DeRozan, also does not fit what the Knicks need off the bench. They need more spacing, which is what Shamit and Diawara showed us last year, shooting 36% from downtown, provides you. So these are not the things they need. Now, you mentioned they need more size. And that brings us to the center situation. Now, the Knicks signed Andre Drummond. Talked about this in the last episode, my thoughts on it. You don't need him to necessarily replace Mitch. That's a big question. How do you replace him? You can't replace Mitch. He ain't doing that. What you got, what you want to do is replace some of the responsibilities that Mitch has, as I talked about before. He can be, and has been through his career, a fantastic rebounder. He's an NBA career-best rebounding percentage of 24.9. He's done that through career. He's really good at screen assist. There are things he does. The defense, the rim protection, eh, not gonna get that necessarily here. So my thing is, you talked about adding size. The Knicks are still here with one of these last veteran minimums. They could add a third center. There's a lot of talk about the Knicks fan base about, well, Drummond is not a good backup center. I would tell everybody, pump the brakes on that. Really? I'm surprised at that. I actually thought more people, I saw a lot of favorable feedback to the move, which kind of surprised me. I saw favorable feedback from people who I think look at this from a rational standpoint and understand that the Knicks can still upgrade this position during the season. I think there's a camp of people that understand the Knicks can upgrade the center position at the deadline. And there's, in my opinion, irrational folks who are like, the roster has to be this now by opening night. It's like, no it doesn't. Well, I was talking more so, I saw an irrational camp of people who were like, oh no, this is as good as, like he's as good as Mitchell Robinson because of the rebounding. I saw that. And I'm like, y'all saw the second round of the playoffs, no disrespect. I saw that. And I was like, I don't think y'all really believe it. Yeah. Like Andre Drummond is good at certain things that he can really provide. This is my point. He can fill some of the responsibilities of Mitch. Is he going to give you the rim protection and the defense? No. Different type of thing. What you need is, what's your hope when Andre Drummond is, just, just reasonably stay in front of people. Yeah. And by the way, you'll get the occasional corner three also, which he's added that to his game. He'll hit his free throws a little bit better. For whatever that's worth. Um, okay. Third center. Yep. Do you have some names? I do have some names. The first one, and Stefan Bondi talked about this with me yesterday and he's not 100% sure, he said he still heard the Knicks be trying to crit the tires on. This person just got waved by the Denver Nuggets. That's Jonas Valanciunas. Now, does Jonas Valanciunas want to play as a third center? This is another question. Speaking of defensive adventures. Yeah. That too. Right. Um, I'll throw some other names at you. Good hands. Uh, nice hook shot. Good post game. Um, I mean, if, if I have Andre Drummond, I feel like I'm compounding it with Jonas Valanciunas. I feel like. I would want a different kind of center as my third center. Yeah. I would. So, okay. Although I like Jonas Valanciunas in the back. I, we're also, I'm not sure he's going to be in the NBA next year. He might want to go play overseas. He was getting interest, uh, from different teams in Europe last year. Uh, and this, this is going to pop up again. He almost went home last year. So we'll see. We'll see. Player who's been moving to the Knicks for a lot of years through trades is still a free agent right now. At the time of this recording, that is Nick Richards. Local ties. Kind of fits the younger ish profile. The type of center Knicks might want to look. That's a little change from Andre Drummond. Has a lot of, um, a lot of fans amongst Knicks nation. I've come to realize. I'd be fine with him as a third center signing. I think, I think he'd be great for that spot. Veteran minimum. I wonder if you need to give him a second year option or whatever, but knowing the Knicks and the voodoo that they do in these deals, they're going to be a one plus two with two team options. I can see that. I can totally see that. Nick Richards was productive in, in Chicago, but it's Chicago. I mean, but as a, as a backup, as if you told me, Hey, there's an open competition for backup center heading into training camp. And it's between Andre Drummond, Nick Richards, and Trey Jamison. I'd be like, you know what? Perfectly fine. And if somebody has that spot. Like by, by the chokehold in February, where you feel like you don't really have to upgrade at the trade deadline, I think because I don't, I don't go into, I don't go into training camp. If they get Nick Richards being like, Oh yeah. Andre Drummond is definitely number two, Nick Richards number three. I'm like, Oh, well they should battle for it. I like that. And I think that could be a good battle. And I think that'd be a good signing and whoever wins wins. And then if you still look at both of them playing or whoever takes the second spot, like you said about a trade deadline, you want to upgrade. You can't. The Knicks have flexibility and options to upgrade at the trade deadline, to upgrade despite not having a ton of first round picks. Yeah. Despite not having a ton of second rounders and also the, you know, the Cola could have value. Maybe. Damn. You're not believing it. Well, he's in summer league. So we have, you know what? We'll let everybody know Friday. We are going to be doing a post-game live show after the first summer league game. I'm sure we will talk a lot about Dottie. I'm sure. You and I went into last season being like, we think he can make the rotation. And we retracted that before Halloween. I don't think I ever said anything about it again. By the way, by the way, we weren't crazy because the Knicks felt the same way. They started him the first game of the year at Abu Dhabi. Yeah. But I don't know if it was a showcase. It was. I don't know if it was a showcase. It absolutely was. But he still has fans and organizations. No, he does. I'm not saying that. We've seen wings basically like not be productive and then just pop. We'll see. He's got a lot. I don't know if it's going to happen. He's got a lot to show at summer league. I'm going to throw a couple more names to you. One I know is a guy you like, Moses Brown. You always talk about getting him a shout. And I'm another veteran. Moses Brown, I put in the Nick Richards category, although he's not as good. Necessarily because Nick Richards has figured out how to stay in the league more consistently. Yeah. But Moses Brown is, first of all, all first team 10 day. You give him a 10 day contract. He's been someplace. You already know what he's going to give you. It's 18 minutes and he'll put up eight and eight and then he'll be done. You know, a couple of dunks and he'll look amazing at times. But then other times you're like, wait, what's going on here? Also local ties. Teammate of Cole Anthony covered him in high school against who we had on the show, actually, Joe Arbatello when he was at Archbishop of Illinois. So Moses Brown is another one. I think if you get somebody like him, he's probably more so competing to stay on the roster as opposed to Nick Richards, who I think would just make the team and compete with Andre Drummond. I think Moses Brown is probably a rung below just because of where he is in his career right now. He barely played last year. So conceptually, it makes sense. It's like veteran, a shot blocker, although less so now because he doesn't play as much. A voice, obviously, too. But if you're looking for somebody. I'd rather go Nick Richards. Like if you're signing this spot not to be the 13th man, because if you need a 13th man, that makes more sense. If you need like a 10th man or somebody compete for the 10th spot, Nick Richards all day. I would put Moses Brown ahead of Bionbo there, too. I'm actually with you on that, too. Listen, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel here for third center options. I think that's the type. I think if the Knicks sign Nick Richards to come and compete, like you said, with Andre Drummond, I think that's a huge win. I think you do. I'd like to see that happen, actually. I think that if you told me the last two spots that they can give out with veterans minimums went to Nick Richards and Jordan Clarkson. Totally great. Great. I think it's great. Great. I think it's totally fine. You got those highway robbery contracts of the guys you resigned. And then you got two players who, you know, at least can play in the NBA. Yeah. Minimum contracts. Great. Three, actually, with Andre Drummond. I would say. He's not a. No, he's the minimum. It's minimum. I would say all things considered, even with losing Mitchell Robinson to bring back 95% of your team, it 96, whatever percentage it would be when you bring Clarkson back. That's a, that's a damn good off season. While in the context, I know this won't make some people happy all with the context of avoiding the second apron. Yeah. If you were able to do that and keep and keep your flexibility to still be able to make moves and add great salaries and. Having added six second round picks, third and draft also. Yep. We're going to come back to, because I'm sure we are. I'm, I'm sure that's something we'll be thinking about once trade season. Yep. And we'll, we'll be thinking about it. So I guess the last thing I'll add in, I'll add in, uh, Drew Eubanks appears to still be available. Also. Who's been around. Okay. We're talking about veterans. Okay. Uh, and our boy, really my boy, Tony Bradley. Oh, that's who's trying to get that pension. Y'all were here during the wash alongs. We talked about that. What does he need? One more season. You need one more year for that. Let me say this. Ruby, Tony Bradley, not here in New York. That's, that's all I'm saying. Last thing before we get out of here. Uh, when you look at the next, this off season, what they've done, and I think it's been a final season for them. And I think a lot of fans tend to look at what else is happening in the East. What's happening around the NBA. I know we're still waiting. Tony Bradley might need two more seasons, by the way. Okay. What we're still looking at in terms of where will LeBron end up? Not here. No, we're not doing that. Do you think the Knicks should still be the favorites in the East? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no, I mean, Mr. Robinson went to the Celtics who traded Jalen Brown, um, for picks and Paul George because they didn't want to pay him anymore because they didn't want to pay him anymore. So they're going to restructure the team. I'm fully confident in, uh, saying that the Celtics will be like at least decent, if not good in a regular season. The playoffs we'll see. Um, there's a, there's a theory that Bill Simmons threw out there that I think is interesting where they look at their team and maybe, maybe what they're thinking is you give Tatum Jalen Brown's usage from last year. And then you have Paul George in what used to be Jalen Brown's role. Maybe that makes the roster make more sense. I could see that. But all of which is to say, like, if you look at odds, Celtics have been up there in terms of being the favorites. The Knicks are the favorites right now. I think to me, there's, there's nothing that suggests, oh, the Knicks shouldn't be the favorites. If you want to tell me they may take a step back because of Mitchell Robinson, then I'm open to that. Sure. They're not as good because of that. I think they've lost something. But you, you then need to tell me who's the team in the East who outright just jumped ahead of them. Cause I don't think that's happened. I think, and to be clear, I think the East is going to be a much better dogfight this year. But I don't good team after good team. Indiana's good. Miami's good. Detroit's good. Boston will probably be good. Philly is good. I still think that with all that, there's teams that are missing Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando. Like there's, there's teams all over the place. With all that being said, I still think the Knicks are the best team. I think they're the deepest team. I think they have the most connectivity. I think they have the most chemistry. It's all going to come down to health. And they have enough flexibility also. Not the most out of all their peers, but they have enough flexibility. Like everything's going to come down to health and where they are in the playoffs. What can they do to upgrade their roster, particularly at the back of fives, if they can buy the trade deadline. But some people are going to say, oh, well, Dex, you know, you know, somebody brought up to me here in the newsroom the other day, Philadelphia. And I'm like, okay, how many games is Joel Embiid going to play? Cleveland's a team that I missed also, by the way. Yeah. With Philly, they still need to round out their bench, although it's looking a little better now. They get LeBron. That's interesting, although I'm still skeptical. I'm still skeptical that he's going to go anywhere but Cleveland or Miami, where he's been before for his sendoff. That just makes the most sense. Basketball-wise, those fits make more sense. I just don't think any of those teams are better than the Knicks. I just think the Knicks have the most versatility, too. I just don't think they're better than the Knicks. Yeah. And now, does it matter? It matters how they're playing in the playoffs. That's what matters. That's what's ultimately going to matter. But the Knicks have the best team in the Eastern Conference right now on paper. And just the connectivity that you're talking about matters. I'm not like, yo, Jalen Brunson's wrist is jacked up and they're screwed. They're expecting him to be good by the time training camp comes around. He put up a 45-piece in Game 5 with a bad wrist. Crazy. And probably a bad ankle. I was saying during the streams, I was saying I wouldn't be surprised if he would need off-season surgery. I just didn't think it was the wrist. I thought it would be the ankle, potentially. Wow. Amazing. Oh, and not to mention the rafters also. Oh, we forgot about them. There are a lot of good teams in the Eastern. Legitimately, there are 10 teams who I think are capable of winning at least 45 games. But not everyone will, just based on numbers. That's just not how it's going to work. Multiple teams might have the season from hell. There's going to be good teams in the play, and the East is going to be a bloodbath. So whoever's going to be the healthiest, good team is going to win the title. That's generally how it goes. It was the Knicks last year. It was. They were the best fourth quarter team. They were a very good team. They were also healthy when it mattered. That's what's going to get you the championship. Every year, we're seeing the same thing. I agree. 100% agree. I think that's a good note for us to end on here on this edition of Straight Up Flushing. Excuse me, Straight Up Flushing. I'm talking about the wrong show. I just talked. I just did Mets yesterday. Talked too much David Starrs. New York got game, is what we're talking about. Wow, too much. And you know what? Why would the wrong blue and orange team be on my mind? Because I've talked about them too much in the last couple of days. Yeah, traded lines coming up. That's all we got to talk about with that team over there. But on New York Got Game, let us know what else do you think the Knicks need to do this offseason? Let us know what you think in the comments. How much are you looking forward to Summer League? We'll be back on Friday night. We'll be doing a live postgame show after the Knicks first Summer League game. So tap in with me and Brian for that. Again, that'll do it for this edition of New York Got Game. Not Straight Up Flushing. New York Got Game, folks. He is Brian Fonseca. I'm Dexter Hamilton. Catch you next time. Peace. And thanks for watching New York Got Game. Booba shakalaka.